Untitled - International Commission of Jurists
Untitled - International Commission of Jurists
Untitled - International Commission of Jurists
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
As <strong>of</strong> 31 December 2000, according to the Government, the DIU had conducted<br />
criminal investigations into 1,175 <strong>of</strong> these cases, about which the Missing Persons<br />
Unit (MPU) <strong>of</strong> the Attorney General’s Department, which was established to initiate<br />
prosecutions into these disappearances, had received information from the DIU. As at<br />
31 December 2001, 262 <strong>of</strong> these cases had led to indictments in the High Court and<br />
non-summary proceedings had commenced in 86 cases in the Magistrate’s Court.<br />
These included cases against 597 security personnel, (ethnicity was not disclosed).<br />
Some 423 cases had been discharged for want <strong>of</strong> evidence. The DIU had been advised<br />
to cause further investigations into 323 cases. 364 The total number <strong>of</strong> “disappeared”<br />
persons from the period 1988-90 was asserted to be approximately 27,200 persons. 365<br />
These statistics are manifestly unsatisfactory as <strong>of</strong>ficial submissions by the<br />
Government <strong>of</strong> Sri Lanka to the UN treaty bodies. They do not yield a full picture <strong>of</strong><br />
the prosecutorial and overall legal process in regard to cases <strong>of</strong> such overriding<br />
importance to Sri Lanka’s accountability record. For example, what is meant by the<br />
term ’discharged for want <strong>of</strong> evidence’? For what number <strong>of</strong> years are the ‘pending’<br />
cases languishing in Sri Lanka’s courts and what are the reasons for delays? Where<br />
cases are categorised as being ‘investigated’, to what extent (if at all) does the MPU<br />
maintain supervision over the police investigations? Should not case numbers be<br />
included in this data, together with the minutes <strong>of</strong> the court orders where acquittals or<br />
convictions have been handed down in order that the information may be cross -<br />
checked and the transparency <strong>of</strong> such data, maintained?<br />
At present, there is little likelihood <strong>of</strong> actually identifying the relevant court orders.<br />
Though some orders <strong>of</strong> the High Courts are analysed below, it is not possible to state<br />
with certainty that these prosecutions emanated from the findings <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Disappearances <strong>Commission</strong>s, or whether they were stemmed from an independent<br />
source.<br />
Further, the data is not disaggregated in terms <strong>of</strong> its geographical location and thus,<br />
there is no way <strong>of</strong> ascertaining which prosecutions emanate from the conflict-affected<br />
areas <strong>of</strong> the North and East and which, from other areas <strong>of</strong> the country.<br />
The low percentage <strong>of</strong> convictions in these cases is one irrefutable fact that is<br />
evidenced from these statistics. This is a result <strong>of</strong> unsatisfactory investigations and<br />
prosecutions. Clearly, the DIU, though functioning reasonably effectively during the<br />
first few years <strong>of</strong> its existence, very quickly thereafter lapsed into a state <strong>of</strong><br />
ineffectiveness, reflecting the lack <strong>of</strong> political will in investigating <strong>of</strong>fences that<br />
involved senior politicians and police <strong>of</strong>ficers. 366 Those police <strong>of</strong>ficers who<br />
investigated their superior <strong>of</strong>ficers in this regard too zealously were transferred out <strong>of</strong><br />
the DIU or penalised in some other way.<br />
For its own part, the MPU appeared to exercise no supervision over the investigations,<br />
but merely accepted notes <strong>of</strong> investigations sent to the Attorney General by the DIU<br />
on face value. Thus, for example, where a case was noted as marked by an<br />
364 ibid at para. 159.<br />
365 ibid at para. 161. However, the un<strong>of</strong>ficial number remains much higher, at a conservative estimate <strong>of</strong><br />
40,000 disappeared persons.<br />
366 Interviews with former senior police <strong>of</strong>ficers, 21.06.2009.<br />
103